You're told to shoot more videos, run TikTok, publish something every day, write to bloggers and music pages, look for playlists, send songs to media and not forget about radio.
At some point the question of how to promote music turns into an endless to-do list. But the main question stays unanswered: which of these does your release actually need?
You can spend weeks on separate activities and still not understand why one of them delivered while ten others simply took your time and money.
That is why promotion is better treated not as a set of scattered actions but as a campaign with a specific goal.
Promotion starts before the release
Promoting a new song is worth starting in advance, before it appears on streaming platforms.
By that point it helps to know who the release is for, which audience you want to attract and which channels you intend to use.
The materials for the campaign are prepared in advance too: artwork, artist photos, a release description, a biography, links, short texts for communication and anything else that media, bloggers, radio stations, curators and creators may need.
If a distributor, label or PR team is working on the release, part of this work can be done together with them. For an artist doing everything alone, it is especially important not to leave promotion to the last moment.
Before the song is out you can contact media, bloggers, radio stations and curators in advance, where a given channel accepts such submissions. That gives time for communication and lets you build the campaign around the release date.
The day the song comes out becomes one of the points in the campaign, not the moment promotion only begins.
Where to promote music
Every channel has its own job. So first define the goal of the release, and only then decide where to send the song.
Press. A feature in a music publication or blog creates an external talking point around the release and the artist, and gives you material for further communication.
Playlists. Playlists are one of the ways to help new music find listeners. It is important to distinguish editorial playlists on streaming platforms, independent playlists and other curator-driven formats. Each has its own rules and ways of submitting.
Music pages and themed communities. Instagram and TikTok accounts that feature new tracks, often as a paid post (theme pages). They can bring extra views and introduce the song to a new audience. But the reach of someone else's page is not the same as the artist's own audience.
Bloggers and creators. They let you work with the existing audience of a specific person. What matters here is not only the number of followers but how well the audience matches the genre, the artist and the specific release.
Radio. It can be a useful channel for certain genres, audiences and markets. Beyond the major stations there are regional and community radio, so radio pitching should also be tailored to the specific campaign.
The main rule is simple: don't try to use every channel at once. First define the task of the release, then assemble the set of tools for it.
How to promote music: the goal first, then the channels
The question "how to promote music?" often turns into a search for one perfect place to send the song.
There is no such place.
If the goal is to find new listeners, relevant channels might include playlists, creators, themed pages and other sources of discovery.
If the task is to get the attention of the music industry, specialist media, radio, professional contacts and a well-prepared pitch may matter more.
If the artist wants to grow the audience around their own name, they need to work not only with external placements but with their own channels too.
If the release is tied to live shows, local media, creators and communities in the right city or region can play a separate role.
Before a campaign it is worth answering three questions:
- Who do I want to reach?
- What do I want from this release?
- Which channels can really help me get there?
After that it becomes much easier to see where to direct time and budget.
A step-by-step promotion plan
Prepare everything before the release
Check the artist pages and prepare the materials the campaign will need: artwork, photos, a release description, a bio, links and information about the song.
If a distributor, label or team is working on the release, agree in advance who is responsible for which parts of the promotion.
Choose channels for this particular song
Not every release needs press, radio, playlists, bloggers and dozens of publications at the same time.
Look at the genre, the audience, the history of previous releases and the goal of the campaign. Then choose a few channels that make the most sense for this song.
Start pitching in advance
Pitching media, radio, bloggers and curators takes time. Every outlet has its own rules, deadlines and submission format.
A professional campaign starts before the release date, so that by the time the song is out the contacts, agreements and publications are already in place and ready to go.
Use release day
On release day the artist's own channels and the placements prepared in advance go live.
But the task is not to publish everything in one day. It is to create several points of contact with the audience and keep working with the release after it is out.
Work with the song after the release
After the release, real data appears on how the audience responds.
You can see which sources brought attention, which publications got a reaction, where listeners come from and which activities are worth continuing.
The same goes for earlier songs: the catalogue works all year round, so its numbers are worth watching too.
Analyse the result
A good promo campaign doesn't end with the last placement.
Afterwards it is worth understanding which channels really helped, which turned out ineffective and what makes sense to repeat for the next release.
How much does music promotion cost
There is no single price for promoting music.
Some opportunities can be free: certain editorial teams, communities or curators accept music submissions without payment. Other outlets work with paid advertising placements or other commercial formats.
This must be distinguished from services promising guaranteed streams or a guaranteed playlist placement. Spotify specifically warns about such services and about artificial streaming. Buying guaranteed streams or playlist placements violates Spotify's rules.
On a limited budget there is no need to try to cover the whole market.
You can put together a small campaign, test a few relevant channels, look at the result and use the data for the next release.
Budget is better allocated not on the principle of "a little on everything" but from the goal of the campaign.
Social media and YouTube
The artist's own social media help them work with the existing audience and gradually turn casual listeners into people who follow their career.
External music pages, creators and bloggers solve a different task: they let you step outside your own audience and show the music to people who may not have known about it before.
So a post by someone else should not replace your own channels.
YouTube can be used in several ways too: the artist's own channel, music videos, live performances, Shorts, reviews and other formats. The choice depends on the artist, the music and how their audience behaves.
The main thing is not to create content for the sake of publishing. Every format should have a clear function within the campaign.
How MUSA helps with promotion
When an artist does everything alone, they have to search for suitable media, write to editors and bloggers, track replies, choose placements and follow the results, all at the same time.
MUSA takes on a significant part of this operational work.
She selects press, playlists, music pages, bloggers and radio for the specific release, negotiates the placements, runs the campaign and shows the confirmed results of every placement.
The artist chooses the right opportunities and manages the campaign budget, while MUSA removes the manual searching and the correspondence with a large number of outlets. The money for a placement stays on the platform until the outlet confirms it has gone live; if an outlet doesn't deliver what was agreed, MUSA finds a replacement.
At 15 and 30 days after each campaign, MUSA collects the results of every placement, analyses what delivered and recommends which media to repeat next time and which are not worth taking. With each campaign, MUSA builds a clearer picture of the artist's audience and what works for them. Over time, this helps build a more tailored promotion approach: which media, formats and channels work best for that particular artist.
That way every new campaign can become more precise, because decisions are based not only on general promotion advice but on the previous experience of the specific artist.
Common mistakes
- Starting promotion only on release day.
- Trying to use every possible channel at once.
- Sending the same mailout to every media outlet, blogger and curator.
- Judging a campaign only by the number of publications.
- Buying guaranteed streams or playlist placements.
- Not analysing the results after the release.
- Repeating the same strategy for every release regardless of the result.